Problems booking BA flight with AA miles
 

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone can help me. I was looking at BA flights yesterday on the AA website to redeem some miles. I found a good offer (22k miles + £39). I had to check the dates with my friend and was planning to book it today. But it didn't work anymore. I can't choose BA on the drop downlist anymore. It's only AA and 'all airlines'. When I type in the details it says 'We didn't find a match. Please choose different search options.'. I tried other routes to other destinations I know with BA as well as other partner airlines. I'll always get the same message.
Is that a bug? Will it be possible to book it again in a few days time? (I'm not planning to fly before the end of September so booking it now is not urgent).

Anyone else had that problem and might be able to assist?

I now wish I would have booked that flight yesterday. :'(

Many thanks and all the best

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

What route and date?

Yes, you should always book a good redemption as soon as you find it, as all AAdvantage flight awards are now fully refundable.

Was the redemption rate 22,000 miles, or 22,500 miles? A redemption priced at exactly 22,000 would never be a redemption on BA.

Award inventory changes all the time. Unfortunately the inventory was either booked by someone else or BA reduced the inventory themselves. Lesson for next time is you can purchase award tickets and refund without any penalty at any time, including taxes and fees. Remains to be seen if the inventory will be added back at a later date, always possible but I wouldn't count on it.

What were the exact flights you were looking at? If BA award flights are available then they should be shown when doing an award search and selecting "All Airlines". It's entirely possible that award space was available yesterday but gone today. In the future you can always put award flights on a free hold at aa.com while you firm up your plans.

Thanks everyone. I never booked a reward flight before so wasn't familiar with the procedure. And not aware I can hold them.

Flight was: BER - LHR on 30 Sept.

I'll use my miles for something else in the future then. And make sure to snatch a flight when it's available

I suspect that this is a temporary glitch. On the JFK-LHR route, AA is not returning any BA award availability, even for a slow travel period like mid-January. Give it a day or two, and I suspect that the glitch will be fixed.

Apparently confirmed on ba.com:

"Reward Flight bookings

"We're currently making some planned changes behind the scenes so you may not be able to book Reward Flights online or via the contact centres. We’ll finish this activity as quickly as possible."

(I'd also suggest that you compare cash fares for BER-LHR before you decide to redeem valuable AA miles on the BER-LHR route to see how much value you'd be getting from such a redemption.)

For sure. BER-LHR on 9/30 can be had for $87 in basic economy, $112 in normal economy, or $257 in business. Definitely a case where it's much better to just buy the ticket rather than wasting AA miles on such a cheap flight.

Perhaps a better use of AA miles?

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cba28c874c.png

Welcome to FT, sanasa!
Since you are new to booking award flights, let me offer some additional comments. Policies on holding award reservations and on cancelling booked award reservations and refunding miles without penalties vary from one airline's program to another's, and are also subject to change within a given program. It would be a mistake to assume that the procedures in effect today will remain the same in the future, so it's important to check the current policies immediately before making an award reservation.